Good Europeans? How European identity and costs interact to explain politician attitudes towards compliance with European Union law

Does European identity increase politicians’ support for compliance with European Union (EU) law? Adopting a political psychology approach, this study for the first time examines the effect of European identity on politicians’ attitudes toward compliance with EU law. I offer a cognitive-interactionist theory and argue that European identity, compliance costs and the interaction between identity and costs shape actors’ support for compliance. Using an original survey of German parliamentarians, I show that European identity and the level of compliance costs are both important predictors of compliance attitudes, and European identity moderates the effect of costs on support for compliance. This study facilitates a new research agenda by bringing the individual politician to the study of compliance with EU law, and builds a bridge between instrumental and normative models of compliance.